Celebrate Black History Month with the help of 10 ideas that delve deep into the history, major events, contributions, famous African Americans, and sheds light on how scholars today can take a proactive stance on current civil rights...

On April 4, 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his speech "Beyond Vietnam." The controversy that followed is the focus of a three-activity unit that asks class members to consider the political and social implications of King's...

The I-STOP law was designed to regulate the distribution and tracking of prescription drugs. After reading an article about its signing and implementation, middle and high schoolers work together to come up with their own ideas for an...

Should Juneteenth be recognized as a national holiday? To prepare to take a stance on this question, young historians first analyze the Emancipation Proclamation and compare it to Lincoln's first Inaugural Address. Scholars then read an...

To generate interest in some of the major issues in Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, class members engage in a four corners activity that asks them or agree or disagree with a series of statements and provide reasons for their...

Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome is the focus of an 11-page packet that includes three lesson plans, three worksheets, and a homework assignment. The first lesson introduces readers to the historical context of the novel. At the same time,...

Students compare two very different works of art and two poems, and verbally list similarities and differences they perceive in the works of art and the poems; students then select poem that best correlates with a work of art.

"Would a rational and well-regulated world include human suffering?" "If the plight of human suffering is the 'best of all possible worlds' do humans have freewill?" Class members develop their position on an issue raised by Candide,...

Small groups in your physics class collaborate on researching and forming an opinion on whether or not to continue operating the Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York. Once the information is gathered and an argument developed,...

Class members adopt the role of Law and Order history investigators and examine primary source documents to determine the legitimacy of Marco Polo's claim that he traveled to and traded in China. A cleverly crafted...

If you stop a student from expressing views that advocate drug use, are you violating their right to free speech? Use the 2007 Supreme Court case Morse v. Frederick to discuss a nuanced interpretation of the First Amendment....

Learners work in teams to develop a presentation and handout representing a particular point of view in a genetically modified food debate. They synthesize their knowledge of food, food contamination, nutrition, and their issues, and...